At 6 am, both the monks and rats come out in BKK!
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
56
62
Trip End
Aug 07, 2008
Bangkok,
Thailand
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Bought some good things. Saw, of all things, Jordan Bulls 23 jerseys... and Chicago Cubs tshirts. But really, most of the market is genuine Thai, not tourist. Taxi back to Khao San Rd (backpacker ghetto of Bangkok, near where we're staying) and bought some more things for our friends/family in that street market there. Cleaned ourselves up then had a wonderful dinner and drinks at this Mayomburi garden restaurant. Food was actually only mediocre but the atmosphere was wonderful. Except for the 2 kittens that were hiding in the bushes, meowing pitifully, possibly lost... that part made me sad.
The night commenced and Liz and I went up and down Khao San in search of a fun time. We had drinks at 1 bar and left. We found a roof top bar with Thai bands (but doing western music...) and stayed there for a long time. We were sitting at a table for 4, so at various points in the night, we were sitting and chatting with an unnamed Austrian couple, two London girls Priya and Veronica (one of which who is moving to NYC at about the same time as me), and then also Gus from London. I don't know, really good times, fun music, lots of loud talking and laughing and drinking.
At some point we left there and went to Shamrock Pub...
Waiting for Liz to finish on internet
there was a great band playing and we danced a ton. The band left and there was a DJ spinning some fun stuff, including Elvis' "Jail House Rock." We met a group of people who all work at Hard Rock Cafe in Pattaya (2 hrs away)... got to know them... did some swing dancing. That bar closed at 2 am, so Liz, Gus and I found our way to GaZebo. (I just had to tell Liz to show me her arm, so I could see the stamp of the name of the place and remember it.) At this place there literally was dancing all night. I mean, we stayed until it closed at 6 am. It was Liz's last night--she leaves tonight at 930pm--so we had to make it a good one. We met more cool people and just danced, danced, danced. Some Thai girl that I made friends with gave me a bracelet. We met Stephen from Ghana and Alfred from Canada and (somethingsomething) from Israel... he was really hard to understand. The real serious low point of the night came at 5 am when they began playing The Macarena... I said no, I refuse, we're leaving. But then the next song was the Thai summer song (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2sjlo_job2do-thai-reggae-band-from-krabi_music) and we've heard that song all summer and love it so we stayed... most of the music was better. Hip-hop and such.
A bunch of us walked back to our guest houses at 6 am when the club closed. I probably lost about 20 decibels of my hearing but I had such a good time dancing and being out with Liz and the others that we met.
At 6 am, walking back, I saw the monks out making their alms routs (wandering the streets, barefoot, in their orange robes and bowl, collecting food)... and I was shocked. Just last week I was waking up at 5 am on the retreat to give alms to the monks, and now, this time, I haven't even gone to bed yet. We also saw incredibly massive rats coming out of the sewers on our walk. I mean, really big ones, long tails. This is Bangkok.
Comments
gibbon arms ?
As your mother, I just have to say... you Do Not have gibbon arms! Mercy! Can't believe your trip is almost over...your blog has really taken me to you for all these weeks. What a great trip you have had. Safe travels home....love, Mom